Appearances Can Be Deceptive : Conclusion
by Jaggie 107
Summary: With rumors abounding of Harm’s dalliance with a Princess, Sturgis invites his friends – and significant others – to a party. No longer the HBX Challenge, but a sequel to ACBD, because people asked for one! Original can be found on my page.


Author: Jaggie 107

Title : Appearances Can Be Deceptive – Conclusion

Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount – and I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.

Summary : With rumors abounding of Harm's dalliance with a Princess, Sturgis invites his friends – and significant others – to a party.

(No longer an HBX Challenge, but a sequel to ACBD, because people asked for one!)

**APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEPTIVE – CONCLUSION**

**JAG Headquarters**

"Mac, do you have a minute?" Sturgis Turner followed Mac into her office as she returned from court. Mac glanced over her shoulder with a smile and a nod, her mouth occupied with the pen she had hastily grabbed up from the conference desk on her way out.

_He had a lot to answer for! If it wasn't for his mind-blowing kisses between floors in the elevator she wouldn't be so mindless! Not to mention the early-morning 'alarm' call, and the 'help' in the shower…_

"What can I do for you, Sturgis?" Mac turned to face him, and Sturgis noticed something 'different' straight away, but couldn't quite put a finger on it.

_'You're glowing,' he observed lazily, the smile on his lips reaching his eyes as he watched Mac moving around the bedroom, picking up their scattered clothing as she searched for an elusive piece of paper. The early morning sun gilded her skin with a golden sheen as it poured into his bedroom, but it was the inner glow that gave her eyes their sparkle and her whole body an aura. Raising her eyes to his, she smiled in return, knowing exactly what he meant._

_'It's love,' she answered simply, and forgetting the hunt she returned to his arms._

"I'm having a party…that is, Varese and I…we…would like you to come by the apartment and visit for a while. Nothing fancy, just some food and drink. You prefer soda, right?" Sturgis ground to a halt, wondering if ought to have alluded to Mac's history.

"I'd love to come, Sturgis, thank you." Mac's eager response threw Sturgis a little, and he hesitated a beat too long at her door. "Something else, Commander?"

"Umm…no…I mean… Harm's been invited too, Mac." Sturgis finished in a rush, and Mac fought to hide an amused smile before bringing her attention back to him, reaching out a hand to touch his arm.

"If you're referring to the scuttlebutt going around here, don't worry. Harm and I will be the absolute example of decorum and I promise there will be no mud-slinging."

"Are things really that bad between you?" Sturgis asked, biting his tongue as he realized how awful the question sounded. Mac shrugged, turning away from Sturgis so he wouldn't see her smile yet again.

"We've had better days, but we always get through. I'm sorry if our issues are impacting on you, or JAG…?" Mac trailed off, and Sturgis spoke up immediately, attempting to reassure her.

"No, there's no problem, with JAG, here, at work… I mean… Mac, if there's anything you would like talk about…?" Sturgis began and then stopped as Mac nodded her head.

"Um… actually, yes… I would like to bring a guest, if it's not an imposition." Mac watched Sturgis raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"Not a problem! That's great…well, we'll see you there then. On Saturday."

'_Sturgis and Varese are throwing a small party. I've been invited, with my guest,' Mac murmured, running her hand down his bare back as they lay together on the rug near the fireplace. Her husky laughter drifted up to him as she brushed her lips across the parts of his chest that she could reach. They were exhausted from work and sated from loving, and as yet they hadn't made it to her bedroom. _

**Sturgis Turner's Apartment**

"Hey, Harm! Your date not coming?" Sturgis asked, disappointment edging his voice as he looked behind Harm to the empty doorway, as if expecting an apparition in a tiara and gown.

"She's running late," Harm apologised, moving away from the door and heading for the makeshift bar.

_'You've made me late again,' she murmured afterwards, running her fingertips through his hair as they lay together on his bed. Her plans to be dressed and ready for the evening had been thrown into disarray when he had come up behind her at the kitchen counter as she prepared a quick snack for them. They had agreed on a late supper, after the party, but she knew they would need some sustenance to last them through the early evening at least. He had joked about 'man living on love alone', and she had playfully punched him before giving in to his caresses and being drawn into his persuasive gaze just before he kissed her._

"Will she be able to find this place?" Sturgis was worried. It wasn't everyday he got to meet a real-life Princess. Harm nodded his head, grinning.

"She knows her way around, Sturgis. She'll be here."

"At least it's a better neighborhood than Union Station," Sturgis observed wryly, and received a dirty look.

"There's nothing wrong with where I live," Harm defended good-naturedly, and both men laughed, until Sturgis heard the doorbell and watched as Varese opened the door this time, to allow Vukovic to enter, alone. Harm pointedly ignored the new arrival.

_'I don't know if I should leave you,' he observed with a hint of laughter. 'You might fall asleep again.' Mac waved him away with a flick of her wrist, and his laughter could still be heard in the hallway after he'd closed the front door behind himself._

Harm watched Sturgis as Sturgis watched the younger officer enter the apartment. A sudden thought lurched to the forefront of Sturgis' brain, and Harm put a hand out in concern as his friend staggered a little.

"Hey, Sturg! Are you okay?" Harm asked, and Sturgis righted himself

"Yeah…umm, fine… I'm fine…" At that moment Mac arrived at the door, and Varese greeted her with a warm hug. The fact that both senior and junior officer had arrived within minutes of each other was not lost on Sturgis, and he turned to look at Harm.

"Something wrong?" asked Harm, unfazed by the appearance of his two colleagues in quick succession. Sturgis shook his head in defeat, and excused himself from Harm so that he could act as host alongside his fiancée.

A short while later all guests were apparently present, with the exception of Harm's princess. Harm didn't appear unduly worried, and Sturgis was curious. This behavior was not typical of the man Sturgis knew as Harmon Rabb Junior. Walking up to Harm once more, Sturgis found him with his nose in a book.

"I didn't know you were interested in the history of naming, Harm."

"Yeah, I am… especially recently. Did you know the name Alexandra means 'man's defender'?" Sturgis fought to keep up with his friend's quickfire thoughts, shaking his head and convinced Harm was behaving erratically.

"Varese is an unusual name, Sturgis, and I can't find anything related in here. Does it have a special meaning?"

"I'm not sure, buddy. It's not something I've asked about. Any special reason you're so interested?" Sturgis had done his own research and discovered that the Princess Alexandra of Romania was the woman Harm had spent time with previously, and who had apparently come back into his life.

"You could say it's pretty special. For example, did you know that the name 'Sarah' means Princess?"

As Sturgis mulled over the words Harm walked away from him and headed toward Mac. Without any apparent verbal communication between the two, he leaned down and proceeded to kiss her. Mac, for her part, wound her arms around Harm's neck and clung to his tall frame. As they drew apart, Sturgis and Varese were standing nearby.

'You do realize, if the General were here he'd have you posted to opposite ends of the earth for what you're doing?" Sturgis murmured, but his smile belied his words. Varese was ecstatic.

"Sturgis didn't say you two were dating!"

"Sturgis didn't know," said Sturgis, leaning to kiss Mac on the cheek and to shake Harm's hand. "You both had me fooled," he added, and Harm gave him a wide smile before adding an explanation.

"Hey, you went with the idea, Sturg! Scuttlebutt did the rest, and we've been left pretty much to ourselves in the meantime."

Once the congratulations of others in the room had been given, Harm and Mac remained close, tactile, one never far from the other. At one point during the evening Harm and Mac were talking with another couple who were neighbors on the same floor as Sturgis, and as Sturgis watched their animated conversation he smiled to himself. Mac's secret was still safe with him, always would be, but now he had no need to fear that her heart would be broken.

"Hey, what're you doing over here all alone?" Varese murmured, coming to stand beside Sturgis and tucking herself into his side as he placed his arms around her.

"I'm just watching and still wondering how they do that!"

"Do what? Who?" Varese was puzzled for a moment, and then her gaze settled on Harm and Mac also. "Ahh…the eternal mystery, huh?"

"I've only been a part of their lives for the last couple of years or so, and in that time I've come to learn that I'll never truly understand the bond they have. It's something undefinable."

"She starts his sentences," Varese began.

"And he finishes hers…" Sturgis added, and then realised what had just happened. Varese smiled at the surprise on his face and leaned forward to kiss him.

"Maybe they're not the only ones…" she added mysteriously just before their lips met and silence ensued. From across the room Harm and Mac raised their eyes and smiled as their friends kissed.

**Harm's Apartment**

'Sturgis was terrified that you were involved with Vukovic. When you appeared within minutes of each other he almost passed out!' Harm's words were a murmur in the silence of the night. Against his skin he could feel Mac smile sleepily.

'He was more terrified that you might do something to Vukovic for being involved with me,' Mac responded, and lifted herself up for a soft kiss before settling back to her niche, her head tucked under Harm's chin and her soft breath heating his skin. As Mac drifted off to a dreamless sleep Harm pondered her comment, and then dismissed the very thought he'd had himself.

_Appearances can be deceptive!_

**THE END**


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